About Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School
“We strive to do ordinary things extraordinarily well” Bishop Richard Challoner
Information for applicants for the post of Teacher of Science and
Mathematics.
Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School enjoys an enviable reputation
locally and across the Diocese and county. An 11-16 mixed voluntary aided
school, Bishop Challoner opened in 1975 and serves the Catholic community
of Basingstoke and surrounding areas including Tadley, Andover, Hook and
the smaller villages within the area. Parishioners in these areas have made
considerable financial sacrifices over the last thirty years to develop and
support the school, we enjoy excellent relations with the feeder parishes and
primary schools and are served by various priests from the local parish.
The intake is drawn from a number of primary schools in the area, but the
principle feeder schools are the three catholic primaries: St. Anne’s and St.
Bede’s in Basingstoke and St. John the Baptist in Andover.
The school is heavily oversubscribed. Currently, there are 652 students on
roll, of which 85% are Catholic and 15% belong to other denominations. We
received 360 applications for the 124 places available for September 2010. In
all cases, parents have deliberately chosen Bishop Challoner as a Christian
environment for their child’s education in which high expectations of uniform,
behaviour and achievement have secured a good reputation for the school
and its students. In addition to the National Curriculum, all students take
Religious Studies as a full GCSE and the menu of options for Year 10 enables
students to choose from a range of academic and some vocational studies.
Students experience a broad range of sport, music, drama and other extracurricular opportunities. They regularly involve themselves in community
service and charitable fund raising, raising over £5000.00 for charities and
good causes in the last year. Student voice is well developed with year and
school councils in place, students are regularly consulted about school issues
and are included in interview panels for senior posts. A well developed
prefect system is in place.
Throughout the school, the emphasis is on high expectations in a caring and
Christian environment. Service to students is conducted in the light of the
Mission Statement and an awareness of the trust which parents place in the
staff for the spiritual, personal and academic development of their daughters
and sons. This high level of care is reflected in the students’ personal
qualities as well as in their achievements at KS3 and GCSE.
Student attainment is considerably above the national picture at both KS3 and
GCSE. In 2009 for example 83% of students achieved at least 5 A* - C at
GCSE. Some students enter AS Mathematics in Year 11. KS3 results are
equally impressive, 88% of students achieved L5+ in English, 94% in Maths
and 88% in Science. Many students achieve L7 and L8. A Gifted and
Talented programme is in place.
The majority of our students transfer to Queen Mary’s College in Basingstoke
at 16. Significant numbers of students progress to University including Oxford
and Cambridge each year.
The Science Department is an extremely active, successful and innovative
department. In both internal review and HMI Inspection the department is
described as good with outstanding features. The department is extremely
well led. The three separate Sciences are taught at GCSE to approximately
half the KS4 cohort. GCSE and BTEC Science are also taught at KS4. The
top two sets in Year 9 start their GCSE course. In the November modules 49
out of 63 students achieved an A* or A grade. The department has achieved
excellent exam results each year and is keen to build on this tradition. The
successful candidate would teach one of the separate sciences to GCSE as
well as Science throughout the school. A small amount of Maths teaching is
also required.
This is an excellent opportunity to join an outstanding team and contribute to
the innovative and successful approach to Learning and Teaching embedded
in the department. Our vision for the school and department is that we build
on current success to achieve outstanding outcomes for students.
I think this is a very special school, thank you for your interest, I look forward
to meeting you.
Tony Corish
Headteacher
January 2010.
Closing date for applications – Friday 5th February, 2010